Did Hamas get the message? On August 22nd, Palestinian terrorists in Gaza deliberately fired a rocket into the Israeli town of Sderot. Sirens sounded - children, women and men rushed for the nearest bomb shelter. Fortunately no one was injured, aside from the possible trauma of having a rocket explode nearby in your home-town. But it could have killed and wounded many people if it had hit a crowded shopping area or summer camp for children.

As usual, the Hamas government in Gaza was quick to deny any responsibility for the attack-

Two revolutionary new developments in cancer research have sprung up in Israel over the last month. With the world spurred in to action against cancer as a whole, Israel has jumped ahead. The need for a cure to these incurable diseases has continued to mount.

This is the appalling reality of the Middle East that faces Israel today: next door in Syria, over five-hundred thousand people, mostly civilians, have already been killed in a six year blood-bath. Several times more have been wounded while millions of refugees flee to Western Europe. Marking time until he soon retires, US Secretary of State John Kerry will jaw-jaw some more with the Russian's Sergey Lavrov. Meanwhile the Russians are now flying air strikes from an Iranian air base to make it easier to hit their civilian, rebel and Da'esh targets. Human rights groups estimate that 17,000 people have been tortured to death in Assad prisons. At this moment, Da'esh sadists are carrying out their genocide of the Yazidi people. The rebel held town of Aleppo was just attacked with chlorine gas in barrel bombs. From the town, a group of doctors has sent out a frantic plea to US President Barack Obama, leader of the Free world:

'We do not need tears or sympathy or even prayers. We desperately need a zone free from bombing .. and international action.'

So what if an Egyptian judoka refused to shake hands after an Israeli defeated him? It was not the first time. In Rio, even Lebanese Olympians refused to travel in the same bus with Israelis. However it came in stark contrast to the under-current of relations that are slowly gaining momentum between Israel and the Sunni Arab states. Egypt's President Al-Sisi has forged a military understanding with Prime Minister Netanyahu on coping with the mounting mutual threat from Islamic State fighters in Sinai. (The Egyptian Sinai was demilitarized in the peace treaty with Israel). But much of the 'Arab street' in Egypt still views the Jewish state as an enemy. Most certainly, members of the powerful Muslim Brotherhood. It was not clear whether the Egyptian Judoka was a fanatical Muslim, probably not. Otherwise he would have refused to compete with a Jew. More likely the Egyptian was worried about the hot reception he would get back home, if he were filmed shaking the hand of an Israeli.

Jerusalem:

Isracast’s weekly report will appear on Sundays

Israel's Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and his new Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman have crossed swords for the first time. U.S. President Barack Obama actually started those fireworks. A year after the great powers reached the nuclear deal with Iran. Obama stated categorically, that the Israeli defense community now acknowledged, that Iran was abiding by the agreement which had turned out to be a 'game-changer'. Defense Minister Lieberman took umbrage and issued a strongly worded statement denying that he and his minions had backed the Iran accord. On the contrary - Lieberman compared it to the notorious Munich accord signed by Britain's Neville Chamberlain and Adolph Hitler of Nazi Germany. Lieberman's statement went on to say that Munich did not prevent either World War II or the Holocaust. He stated that today Iran was following in Hitler's footsteps.

Israelis for Donald or Hillary?

It is still hard to say whether most Israelis favor Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. Going into the Democrats' convention, Trump had a slight lead. Coming out, Hillary got her expected 'bounce' and this will also be reflected in Israeli public opinion. Prime Minister Netanyahu and other Israeli politicians are wary about getting drawn into the U.S. presidential campaign for obvious reasons. A majority of Netanyahu's Likud party supporters hope Trump will make it to the White House, while the Centre and Left (Zionist Union-Labor) favor Clinton. Where does Bibi Stand? An indication is the clear-cut position taken by 'Yisrael Hayom' (Israel Today) the freebie newspaper that backs Netanyahu and is also in Trump's corner. Israel Today is financed by American casino tycoon, Sheldon Adelson. But the Clintons, both Hillary and Bill, have always been strong supporters of the Jewish state.

The same bacteria that make your sweaty socks smell are responsible for some 1.7 million hospital-associated infections in the US alone. An Israeli antibacterial fabric may offer a solution.

What makes sweaty socks smell? It’s not the moisture; it’s the bacteria that grow in the damp fabric. If you could alter or banish those microbes, you could wear sweaty socks for a week without offending anyone. Israeli Prof. Aharon Gedanken’s success with antibacterial socks, a product intended for Israeli soldiers that never made it to market, may hold the key to addressing what is actually a global healthcare concern.

An unidentified pilotless drone flies into Israeli air space from Syria. Israeli Air Force controllers launch a Patriot (American made) surface-to-air missile. It misses the target. A second Patriot goes streaking skyward. It also goes wide. An Israeli jet then fires an air-to-air rocket - again no bull's eye. After penetrating Israeli airspace by some four kilometers (over two miles) the drone turns around and then flies back unharmed into Syria. A small part of a Patriot missile falls on the head of an Israeli girl far below. She is not seriously hurt.

Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite is a magnificent motto but it just got trumped by the battle cry of 'Allah Akbar'. The cold-blooded murder of over 84 children, women and men in Nice is a startling example of our age. After the Islamic terror attacks in Paris last November, French President Francois Hollande thought declaring a half-hearted 'state of emergency' would do the trick. And after hosting the huge Euro-Cup soccer tournament, France had breathed a sigh of relief. But then came the new slaughter that killed so many and wounded many, some critically, ironically at Bastille Day celebrations for what is probably the greatest democratic event in all of history, the French Revolution.

If the new treatment mechanism, known as immunotherapy, lives up to expectations, the world of oncology could undergo a real revolution within just a few years - meet Keytruda, Israeli drug for fighting metastatic melanoma.

At the age of 68, Prof. Ben-Shabbat noticed an odd-looking sore on his head. "They told me at the hospital that it's a melanoma and needs to be surgically removed," he relates. "After the operation, I said to myself, thank God it's gone." But the sore reappeared, on his neck this time. The doctors informed Ben-Shabbat and his family that they were dealing with a metastatic growth, and that Ben-Shabbat's future looked bleak. "I underwent surgery again," he recalls. "My wife and children asked the doctor how long I had to live. He said to them, 'Between five and seven months.'"

Is Israel preparing for war against Lebanon?”

This is a recent sensational headline carried in the international media, an example of how many foreign experts tend to completely misread Israel. The analysis was carried by the Huffington Post and written by Alastair Crooke, 'a former MI-6 agent', the British equivalent of the CIA or Mossad. Crooke bases his conclusions on a recent presentation by IDF Maj. Gen. Herzl Halevi, the commander of the IDF Intelligence Branch. This was a key sentence by the General:

"I'm going to say this with all due caution, but there has never been an army (IDF) that knows so much about its enemy as we know about Hezbollah. But still, the next war will not be simple, it will not be easy."

Will Israeli-Turkish Rapprochement Tie Hands of Hamas Terrorism from Gaza?

Israelis must brace up to terror attacks of one kind or another - it is part of the nation's struggle for survival. None are easy, but some hit harder than others.

Thursday morning 8:38 AM in Kiryat Arba in Judea-West Bank:

Thirteen-year-old Hallel Yaffa Ariel is sleeping in her bed alone in her home. The summer vacation has already begun and Hallel, an ardent dancer is sleeping-in after performing the night before in Jerusalem.

A seventeen-year-old Palestinian from the nearby town of Bani Na’im jumps over the Israeli security fence built around the community sounding the alarm at the security headquarters. The terrorist races to the nearest Israeli home and enters. It is still not clear if the door or a window was left open. Armed with a knife, he rushes to the children’s' room, where Hallel is apparently still sleeping, and stabs her eight times.